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LONDON. — Manchester United have been accused of wasting the most money in the English Premier League, according to a transfer survey released yesterday.

The survey found £560million worth of players signed by Premier League sides over the last three seasons were used in 50 percent or less of the total minutes of their club’s season.

United, with £117,7 million and Tottenham, with a £100,9 million outlay, topped the list of players that failed to succeed. Manchester City (£53,3 million), Liverpool (£50,4 million), Arsenal (£34,3 million) and Chelsea (£32,9 million) also spent highly on players who failed to deliver. The biggest flop, according to the survey, was Angel Di Maria, who cost United £59,7 million, but who was sold after just one season to Paris St Germain for £44 million.

Marouane Fellaini, who cost United £27 million from Everton transfer deadline day in August 2013, was second on the list of bug-money failures. Arsenal midfielder Alexis Sanchez was ranked the most profitable signing last season in Europe, playing 86 per cent of the total minutes of his club’s season. United trio Ander Herrera, Di Maria and Luke Shaw, who spent most of last season injured, played just 55 percent, 48 percent and 33 percent of the minutes respectively.

Player wages have also eaten up most of the money involved in international soccer transfer deals during the past two years, according to Fifa TMS figures. Its Transfer Matching System (TMS) estimates that since 2013 some 57 percent of funds have gone into stars’ pockets. Actual transfer fees have accounted for just 41 percent of the cash, and agent commissions the remaining 2 percent.

Football clubs in Europe account for four-fifths of the total money spent on wages in those global deals. The new figures refer to international transfers from one country to another, and do not cover “domestic” transfers between two clubs in the same nation. In cash terms it means that over the past two years, from international deals, $16,5 billion (£10,8 billion) has gone on player salaries, $12 billion in transfer fees, and $700 million to player agents.

“Most of the transfers discussed in the media involve large transfer fees, but in reality, only 13 percent of all worldwide transfers involve the payment of a fee,” said Fifa TMS General Manager Mark Goddard. “Salaries, though, are part of every single contract.” Increasingly lucrative TV deals have given top-flight English clubs the financial muscle to bring in a plethora of global stars from overseas.

Big signings this summer have included Manchester City’s purchase of Kevin De Bruyne from Wolfsburg for £52 million and Nicolas Otamendi from Valencia for £32 million, while rivals Manchester United bought Anthony Martial from Monaco for £36 million and Memphis Depay from PSV for £25 million.

And Fifa’s analysis of the spending on international transfers during the recently ended summer transfer window shows that English clubs spent a total of $996 million (£653 million) — more than double any other country.

Meanwhile French clubs spent $270 million — a 65 percent increase on summer 2014, but Spanish clubs, another traditional home for glamour players, particularly from South America, saw summer spending decrease by 23 percent on 2014, to $495 million.

Those three nations, plus Germany and Italy, make up what are known as the “Big Five” European leagues.

These big five countries recorded a total of 1 340 incoming international transfers during this summer’s transfer window, an increase of 4 percent when compared with the same period in 2014.

And the total international transfer spending across these nations reached $2,396 million, an increase of 2percent on last year’s summer window, driven by increased spending in Italy as well as France.

Former Italian football club legend Gianluca Vialli, who starred for Sampdoria, Juventus, and Chelsea, said there were a number of reasons for the increased spending on transfers in Italy, a country where the football economy has been seen as stagnant compared with England or Germany.

“The Italian league has got better TV deals than it previously had, so there is more money available,” Vialli told the BBC website at the Soccerex football conference in Manchester.

“But more importantly, I think the football clubs decided that to come out of this ‘football recession’ it would be better for them to invest in players.”

Other findings from Fifa’s analysis of international deals involving the Big Five leagues are that:

The average transfer fee for an international transfer increased from $5,5 million to $5,7 million (up 4 percent on 2014)

Total spending on agent commissions has grown this summer, to $158 million, up 8percent on last summer

The average age of players engaged by the Big Five was 23 years and 9 months — one month younger than last year

Fifa’s TMS organisation uses modern electronic technology with the aim of making international football transfers more transparent and legally compliant.

Goddard said the system also helped Fifa to gauge the size of the global football transfer industry, and how best to manage it.

For its latest report, Fifa has analysed data supplied to it from 6 500 clubs.

Following on after the heavy financial outlay from clubs in Europe on player wages, teams in the Asian confederation were the next highest spenders on salaries.

In a separate look at the European transfer market, Spanish-based sports business and marketing consultancy Prime Time Sport has released its report into summer player spending.

In a presentation at Soccerex, its chief executive Esteve Calzada said that all clubs, including the biggest in Europe, were now involved in selling players. — The Mirror.